


Nothing's On

by Healy



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Amnesiac Grunkle Stan, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Gen, Memory Loss, Post-Weirdmageddon, Recovered Memories, Television Watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:53:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8596945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Healy/pseuds/Healy
Summary: Mabel wants to stay up and watch TV with Stan. Even with his recent memory loss, how could Stan say no?





	

It took Stan a while to process the sad girl in the floppy disk nightshirt standing in the living room doorway. He could’ve kicked himself when he realized. _Idiot! That’s Mabel! Don’t you recognize her?_ Sure, it had only been a day since they started work with the scrapbook, but what kind of _moron_ forgot his favorite niece like that?

“Grunkle Stan?” Mabel’s voice brought Stan out of his thoughts.

“Uh, what’s wrong, sweetie?” He shifted in his seat. “Can’t sleep?”

Mabel rubbed her eyes. “Had a bad dream. I don’t wanna talk about it. Can I watch TV with you, Grunkle Stan?”

Even missing half his memories, Stan knew he couldn’t turn Mabel down. He scooched over and let Mabel sit beside him on the chair. There wasn’t anything good on TV, just some old Tigerfist reruns and poorly made informercials, but they sat through hours of it anyway.

It was during the back half of some misbegotten horror movie that Stan felt an _incredibly_ strong case of deju vu creep up on him. _Have I watched this film before? Something about it seems so familiar…_

Images swarmed in Stan’s head.

_“Grunkle Stan, the attic’s too noisy. I can’t sleep! Can I stay up and watch TV with you?”_

_“Ugh, if I say no you’re just gonna whine about it ‘til I give in. Fine, but don’t tell your parents I let you stay up late, okay?”_

“This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this movie,” said Stan. Mabel nodded and scooted closer to Stan. “First time was about a week after you two moved in. You asked to stay up, and I didn’t want to, but I let you.” Stan closed his eyes, tried to focus on the memory. “You were so scared of the monster you couldn’t sleep the next night. I remember because Dylan— _Dipper_ —complained about it.”

Mabel wrapped her arms around Stan, like _he_ needed comforting. “Do you remember what kept you up that night?” she asked. “Was it something about Ford?”

_Ford_. The weird twin brother Stan never remembered having. He was always hovering in the background, asking Stan about this, that. _“Do you remember Crampelter, Stanley?”_ Frankly Stan was starting to wish he’d just go away, especially since what little he _did_ remember about Ford was too wrapped up in anger and guilt to untangle.

“I don’t know,” said Stan. “It might’ve been something about the Shack.”

Mabel gave Stan a tight squeeze. “Well, do you know what kept you up now?”

That was an easier question. “Memory problems.”

“You’ll get it all back,” said Mabel. “I know you will. You’re a tough guy, Grunkle Stan! You’ve gotten through worse.”

“Yeah…” Stan put an arm around Mabel’s shoulder. “I guess I have.”

They drifted off to sleep to the sound of crappy TV.


End file.
